Urban Land Magazine » Kyle Parkshttp://urbanland.uli.org
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 15:36:31 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Pasco County Embraces ULI Recommendations for Changehttp://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/pasco-county-embraces-uli-recommendations-for-change/
http://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/pasco-county-embraces-uli-recommendations-for-change/#commentsTue, 30 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000http://urbanland.uli.org/news/pasco-county-embraces-uli-recommendations-for-change/In the wake of a ULI Advisory Services panel report, Pasco County, Florida, is not only making needed internal changes, but also has approved significant changes to its land use plan, focusing on the concept of using higher densities in certain geographic areas. Read what three panel recommendations are considered keys to the program’s success.

]]>ULI’s Advisory Services panel recommendations for Pasco County, Florida, are fast becoming a blueprint for change. The report on those recommendations lists three keys to success, says panel coordinator Alex Rose, senior vice president of development and asset management for Continental Development Corp. in El Segundo, California.

Pasco County needed help, and its leaders knew it. Pasco County, perched on the northern end of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, has a classic case of suburban sprawl. The county, which once consisted mostly of miles and miles of pasture, now has 471,000 residents and is predicted to double in population in the next 25 years.

“I think it’s clear that if we don’t do something, traffic is going to become a major hindrance to our quality of life and to our growth,” says Pasco County administrator John Gallagher, a key driver in embracing the ULI recommendations.

Adding to the issues was a county staff that was somewhat disorganized and not accustomed to moving quickly and efficiently. County leadership—both staff and elected officials—knew problems existed, and this self-awareness was a key first step. Since the 2008 report was embraced by the county leadership, chief assistant county administrator Michelle Baker has used everything from forming process-improvement teams to hiring key new leaders to make workers more aggressive and to get staff members out of their silos and focus on working together.

This new spirit of cooperation also extended to the Pasco Economic Development Council (PEDC), a cosponsor of the panel that had worked closely with the county to land a major operations center for T. Rowe Price. The company has purchased 94 acres (38 ha) in the county for a facility envisioned to accommodate as many as 1,600 workers over the next decade. “A coup like this would not have been possible without a faster-moving, more responsive county organization,” says John Hagen, president/CEO of the PEDC.

The ULI report pulled no punchesin laying out an aggressive vision for future growth and was specific in laying out actions to be taken. Research for the report first focused on how economic development efforts should dovetail with land use planning. The panel quickly saw that Pasco has five distinct market areas, and each needed a vision to attract jobs and create a land use strategy that would make sense for that specific area.

“This was in sharp contrast to the ‘go find the big user and plop them down wherever’ approach that was being used,” says Rose. This new thinking, tied to consideration of such factors as traffic flows and infrastructure needs, was followed by recommendations to streamline the development review process.

The land planning recommendations center on creating three areas—along transportation corridors in the west, central, and eastern sections of the county—that would allow higher densities, forming hubs for better transportation options.

“Transportation is critical for the county’s future,” says Richard Gehring, Pasco County growth management administrator and a member of the ULI Tampa Bay advisory board. Ambitious plans taking shape in west-central Florida revolve around creating a light-rail system that can tie into the high-speed rail to be built between Tampa and Orlando. Pasco County could benefit by making the commute easier for the 75,000 people who leave the county each morning to spend their workdays in nearby cities such as Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg.

“We talk about a three-legged stool for the county’s future, and the ULI recommendations reflected that,” Gehring says. “Transportation, economic development, and land use planning all must play a role in growth, or it won’t work.”

ULI involvement did not stop with delivery of the report. Instead, the institute is providing county officials with support and a sounding board as they turn the recommendations into reality. A special advisory committee formed by ULI Tampa Bay has advised Pasco County since the report was delivered two years ago; its creation was fostered by ULI Tampa Bay chair Stewart Gibbons. Gibbons is a key leader in Pasco through his chairmanship of the PEDC board from 2007 to 2009, and through his role with CoastOak Group, the developer behind Connerton, a 4,800-acre (1,950-ha) mixed-use, master-planned community in Pasco County.

“Having Stew right there in Pasco to serve as a bridge to the ULI district council has been a major factor in the success of that project,” says Rose. This type of local follow-up program is becoming more common, he says, citing examples in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

For Gibbons, the project shows how ULI can provide value in the communities where its leaders live and work. In addition to making needed internal changes, the county has approved significant changes to its land use plan, focusing on the concept of using higher densities in certain geographic areas. “These are land use changes done with input from the private sector, which makes it very real-world,” says Bruce Erhardt, a Cushman & Wakefield land broker who is leading ULI Tampa Bay’s Pasco County advisory committee.

As of this fall, those changes were being considered for approval by the Florida Department of Community Affairs. “This aggressive type of density planning is very unusual for Florida, and some folks in Tallahassee [the state capital] aren’t sure whether the law allows for it,” says Gallagher. “Up to now, rules about allowing higher densities have basically applied to areas that already had high densities. Our idea—to create high-density areas where there is little density now—is both ahead of the curve and very out of the norm.”

Gallagher and other Pasco leaders are hoping the state signs off on the land use changes soon, which would help focus economic development efforts. With a more specific land use strategy in place, Hagen and his staff can better direct corporate prospects to different geographic areas.

For Gallagher, who has run the county since 1982, the results of the ULI exercise have been nothing short of life changing. “The ability to look at our blemishes has allowed us to create a plan to make this county better for our residents and their children in the future,” he says. “What a great legacy that would be.”

]]>http://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/pasco-county-embraces-uli-recommendations-for-change/feed/0Connecting Floridahttp://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/connecting-florida/
http://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/connecting-florida/#commentsWed, 17 Nov 2010 12:31:00 +0000http://urbanland.uli.org/news/connecting-florida/ULI leaders are using the Connecting Florida initiative, including a special report released in April, Connecting Florida: Transit + Florida’s Economy, to help leaders get answers to questions about where people work and live and to ensure that the organization plays a larger role in the transportation dialogue. Learn what transportation development is adding new urgency to the effort.

]]>Connecting Florida illustrates both the progress and challenges involved in planning improvements to Florida’s transportation system.

For decades, the major metropolitan areas in Florida have operated independently and with strikingly different agendas, reflecting differences in business climate and culture. But there are signs that may be changing, prompted in part by new efforts to improve transit options in the state and helped along by Florida’s ULI district councils. The efforts come none too soon in a state where auto traffic is getting worse by the day and public transportation options are limited.

ULI saw an opportunity to engage the district councils for Northeast Florida, Tampa Bay, Central Florida, Southwest Florida, and Southeast Florida/Caribbean to analyze the links between transportation and land use around the state. The result was a collaborative effort called Connecting Florida that illustrates both the progress and challenges involved in planning improvements to Florida’s transportation system.

Connecting Florida is supported by the ULI/Curtis Regional Infrastructure Project. “I believe a large part of the quality and competitiveness of our future relates to the following questions: How do we live and work? Where do we live and work? How do we move goods and services? And how do we move people?” says Jim Curtis, managing partner of the San Francisco–based Bristol Group and a ULI trustee, who provided the funding for the project.

ULI leaders are using the Connecting Florida initiative, including a special report released in April, Connecting Florida: Transit + Florida’s Economy, to help leaders get answers to some of these questions and to ensure that the organization plays a larger role in the transportation dialogue.

An effort such as Connecting Florida still needs a spark to ignite. This spark came from Debbie Orshefsky, chair of ULI Southeast Florida/Caribbean, who initiated an infrastructure committee that secured the Curtis Project grant, bringing together all five district councils in Florida. “This effort marks a major step forward in having our district councils work together,” says Carla Coleman, executive director of ULI Southeast Florida/Caribbean. “I think it’s a sign that Florida’s cities can find common ground and the power of cooperation to work together on big issues, and it’s great that ULI is helping to make that happen.”

Connecting Florida also coincides with a new level of awareness statewide of the need for better transit options. For example, when business and civic leaders realized that supporting the existing Tri-Rail service in southeast Florida would benefit the plans for SunRail in Orlando and eventually lead to progress on rail plans in Tampa Bay, attitudes started to change about the need for different areas of the state to work together.

The Connecting Florida report describes the transportation progress made by each of the state’s metro areas, which involves everything from buses to light rail. The progress varies dramatically.

For instance, in Boca Raton, a new retail center, Village Plaza, has opened, offering coffee or a workout at a fitness center within walking distance of southeast Florida’s Tri-Rail commuter-rail line, the state’s first regional transit system. It is one of the state’s first significant examples of transit-oriented development (TOD). Several other TOD projects are in the planning stages in southeast Florida, and the area is now working on an extension of its Metrorail system, which will connect Miami International Airport with the city.

In the Tampa Bay area, district council leaders are using the Connecting Florida report as part of ongoing presentations on how better transit options contribute to more well-defined development patterns and the overall quality of life in communities. And in southwest Florida, several new projects are underway that show a heightened interest in TOD.

In the Jacksonville area, plans are underway to develop transit options for the region, where auto traffic will someday be more challenging than it is today. “We want to be ahead of the curve,” says Michael Blaylock, CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and a member of the advisory board for ULI North Florida. “If we build a transportation model that leads to less sprawl and easier commutes, it improves everyone’s quality of life. Getting everyone in the state on the same page is what efforts like this report will help to accomplish.”

A planned high-speed rail system only heightens the need for creation of light-rail and bus systems in the areas it will serve—Tampa Bay, Orlando, and eventually south Florida. The 84 miles (135 km) of new high-speed track between Tampa and Orlando is being partially funded by a $1.25 billion federal grant and promises to offer 16 round-trips per day on trains reaching speeds of up to 168 miles per hour (270 kmph).

In central Florida, a commuter-rail transit project called SunRail will run along a 61-mile (98-km) stretch of existing freight track in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Volusia counties. SunRail is scheduled to begin service in 2013. Metroplan Orlando, the metropolitan planning organization representing Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties, shared the Connecting Florida report with its board to help members make timely, informed decisions on implementation of the transportation plan in their region as high-speed rail and commuter rail become reality.

“A top priority for us in central Florida is to optimize investments being made in rail transit,” says Harold W. Barley, executive director of Metroplan Orlando. “ULI’s work has been a tremendous help.”

And in Tampa Bay, discussions center on the need for a variety of transportation options for commuters when they arrive by high-speed rail in Tampa. Initial efforts are focused on that city, but the St. Petersburg–Clearwater area is also joining the discussion. ULI Tampa Bay has been working to help raise awareness, with a special committee making more than a dozen presentations to local civic and business groups about the economic advantages of TOD.

Indeed, the reality of high-speed rail is adding a sense of urgency to the need for figuring out how the service should fit into a larger transportation system, as well as expediting efforts to educate the public.

“These issues can be hard to get your arms around, but that only makes it more important for different parts of the state to work together,” says Stuart Rogel, CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership and chairman of the ULI Tampa Bay governance committee.

Rogel has long played a key role in working to bring Tampa and Orlando closer together on regional economic development initiatives. He was part of the ULI team that arranged for the first Connecting Florida product in fall 2009—a brochure describing what transit can do for economic development, accompanied by a cover letter signed by all five district council chairs—to be hand-delivered to all 160 legislators in the state capital, Tallahassee.

Coincidentally or not, the result was the essence of transcending narrow regional perspectives: the Tampa Bay votes helped Tri Rail and SunRail funding pass during that session. Suddenly, the lines of competition were transforming into lines of cooperation. “We had staffers in the Capitol wave the brochure at us, telling us ‘This is good stuff,’” Rogel says. “It tied into some new political momentum for transit, and I think our efforts helped that along.”

Now, the state’s district councils are making plans for more meetings and taking other steps to work together more closely. “People around the state are learning that helping another part of the state solve a problem doesn’t mean that you are hurting efforts in your own area,” says Rogel. “And that realization is powerful for everyone involved.”